In Lake Worth, Clinton Vows to Keep Fighting for Kids and Families As President, Calls Trump Unfit for the Presidency
At a rally in Lake Worth on Wednesday, Hillary Clinton committed to continue the cause of her life of fighting for kids and families if elected president. Clinton also called out Donald Trump for his unprecedented and unacceptable remarks, most egregiously refusing to commit to accept the results of the election.
Trump’s shoddy business record should also be a concern for voters on the day he is opening his new DC hotel, Clinton said. Trump’s business career left in its wake multiple bankruptcies, hundreds of small businesses whom he refused to pay and a near $1 billion loss in one year alone, Clinton said. He’s been hypocritical in his business practices, Clinton added, saying, “We know he’s used undocumented workers, and that’s one of the things that he has run his campaign on, about deporting undocumented workers. Well, he’s used undocumented workers. He’s made his products in foreign countries. He’s used Chinese steel instead of American steel. So you can talk a good game, but let’s look at the facts. And the facts show he has stiffed American workers. He has stiffed American businesses.”
Clinton also called on Floridians to elect Patrick Murphy to the U.S. Senate, where he will be an ally to Hillary Clinton in building an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. Murphy will also help fight climate change, pass comprehensive immigration reform and stand up to the gun lobby, Clinton said.
Clinton’s remarks, as transcribed, are below:
“It’s great to be here in Lake Worth and – Wow. I – Wow, thank you. Wow, it is great to be here and I want to thank Tricia for being an operating room nurse and being a volunteer in this campaign, and I want to thank all the volunteers, everyone who has helped reach out to voters. I want to thank my friend of many years, your senator, Bill Nelson, for being here – Congresswoman Lois Frankel, Congressman Ted Deutch, all the elected officials, but especially all of you.
There are only 13 days left in this important election. And I have to tell you, it is so clear how high the stakes are. And I am going to work as hard as I can over these next 13 days reaching out to as many people as possible. We can’t take our foot off the gas even for a short time. Every vote counts; just ask my friend former Vice President Al Gore. And Lake Worth can make the difference, Florida can make the difference, and if people get out and vote, we will have a victory on November the 8th. Also in the crowd is Randy Parker [sic]. Randy, raise your hand. And I hope you will send Randy to Congress. And thank you so much for singing to me. Oh, I love your signs. That’s great. Vote early, Florida. That’s great.
I hope that one of the best gifts that you can give yourselves would be sending Patrick Murphy to the United States Senate. He’s exactly the kind of senator that Florida deserves. He’ll be an independent voice speaking out and working on your behalf. He’s a proven problem-solver. He’s fought for comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship. He has defended Planned Parenthood and a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions. He’s brought Democrats and Republicans together to protect our environment and fund Everglades Restoration.
That’s what we need. We need somebody who will help to break the gridlock, to stand up and help create more good jobs with rising wages. Stand up to the gun lobby and advocate for commonsense gun safety reforms. And help in the fight against climate change to protect the future of Florida. He will also defend and strengthen Social Security and Medicare. Everyone who works hard during your lifetime should be able to retire with dignity, and the benefits that you have earned should not be cut or privatized. And remember this, unlike his opponent, Patrick Murphy has not been afraid to stand up to Donald Trump and his dangerous, divisive campaign.
Now, did anybody see the last debate?
AUDIENCE: “Yes.” HILLARY CLINTON: “I stood next to Donald Trump for four and a half hours in those three debates, proving, I think once and for all, I have the stamina to be president. And no matter what he did, no matter what he said, no matter how he stalked me and lurked over me – I just kept thinking about what Michelle Obama said: When he goes low, we go high. And boy, has he gone low, right? But among the many things that he has said which are deeply troubling and disturbing, he said something truly horrifying in that last debate. He said that he would not necessarily respect the results of the election. He actually refused to say that he would when asked directly. Now, you got to understand, as I was standing here, nobody – nobody – Republican, Democrat – nobody who’s ever run for president has ever said that before. And so I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised. This is the guy who said the Emmys were rigged against him when his TV show didn’t win.
But this is serious, and it’s the reason I’ve been bringing it up at all my stops here in Florida, partly because I was horrified by it, but also because think about this. When you are sworn in as president, you take an oath. You take an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. And listening to Donald Trump’s campaign, I truly doubt that he has ever read the Constitution. Or if he did back in school, he certainly doesn’t remember it and he doesn’t understand it is the most important founding document for the longest-lasting, greatest democracy in the history of the world. In America, we don’t say we’re going to keep you in suspense about whether we’ll respect the outcome of an election; we have free and fair elections and a peaceful transfer of power. That is one of the things that makes America who we are. And we fool around with that and we criticize that at our peril.
As your Secretary of State, I went to 112 countries and a lot of those countries – a lot of those countries are ones that are not democracies or they’re only pretend democracies. They actually have authoritarian leaders or dictators. And yeah, you know what? They rig their elections. Somebody running gets 99.9 percent of the vote. We’ve seen this. We know what that means. And some of you, either yourselves or your parents or your grandparents, came from places where that went on. And we can never tolerate anyone running to be president of the United States who undermines and questions our fundamental democratic values.
Now, we know he has spent his entire campaign attacking one group of Americans after another. He’s attacked immigrants. He’s attacked African Americans and Latinos and POWs and Muslims and people with disabilities. And, boy, has he attacked women. But now his final target is democracy itself. And we have faced challenges to our democracy before, and we’ve got to keep working until we have a more perfect union.
And our very first president understood that. I mean, George Washington refused to become a king. Folks were saying, ‘Hey, this president thing is okay, but maybe we should have a king.’ Well, we had a revolution to get out from under one king. And George Washington was wise enough to say, ‘No. I’m going home. We need to have the peaceful transfer of power.’
One person can’t act like they’re in charge of everything in America. That’s not who we are. We disagree in case you haven’t noticed. But then we come together. And we roll up our sleeves, and we get things done. And I so admire George Washington for many things, but for that decision, it was one of the most important decisions in our history. Now, I’m sure Donald Trump would probably have called him a loser because he voluntarily gave up power so that we could have elections that would choose our leaders.
But here’s the good news – and there is a lot of good news. Sometimes when you listen to Donald Trump and the Trump world he lives in, it can get a little disturbing, dark, dangerous, and divisive. I don’t recognize the America he describes. There are a lot of problems we’ve got, and we’re going to have to address them. And I intend to do that. But at the very moment that Donald Trump was making this unprecedented attack on our democracy, we have had millions and millions of people registering to vote, voting early, and volunteering. In fact, this is really exciting to me. We have reached a milestone. More than 200 million Americans are registered to vote, the biggest number we have ever had in our history. And, maybe most exciting, more than 50 million of them are young voters. After all, this election is more important to young people than anybody else. And to have you register and then turn out and vote is absolutely terrific.
And you know what else? Listen to this. More than 10 million people have already voted in this election and 2 million of them right here in Florida. So Florida has already cast 20 percent of the votes that have been already in the ballot box.
Now, I’ve got to tell you I’ve heard some really inspiring stories. I’ll just tell you one. Steven from St. Augustine has been fighting a rare form of leukemia and heart disease. He’s been in and out of the hospital a dozen times in the last two years. But he told his family, he told his friends, he told the nurses and the people in the hospital how important it was that he get a chance to vote. So I heard yesterday he ditched his oxygen tank, which I would not have recommended. He clung to his walker. He stood in line. And he cast his vote for a better America. Don’t let anybody tell you they don’t have time to vote in this election with somebody like Steven making that enormous effort.
And you only see numbers like this when people are motivated to stand up for what they really believe in. And I really believe Americans are coming together at the end of this election and not just Democrats but Republicans and Independents. And I want to thank all of the Republicans and the Independents who are here today, who are part of making our country better for everyone.
And you know what? This is not just about what we’re against. It’s about what we’re for. We have a lot of things to be for. It’s about a common vision we share of a hopeful, dynamic, unified America, where everyone counts and everyone has a place. So I really believe it may be my name on the ballot, but it really is about all of you. Every issue you care about, every concern you have about our country or the world, just imagine that being on this ballot. It really does come down to who we are as a country.
The future of the economy is on the ballot. I believe when the middle class thrives, America thrives. And I have said this for many years. I believe this so strongly because I come from a middle class family. My father was a small businessman. His father was a factory worker. That’s how it’s supposed to work in America. People work hard. They provide for their families. And people keep moving forward.
That’s what I want for everyone. I want every single person here to have your chance at the American dream. And the American dream is big enough for everybody. It’s not exclusive to any one group of people. We’re going to make the biggest investment in good new jobs since World War II: jobs in infrastructure, manufacturing, technology, small business, and clean energy. We’re going to make American the clean energy superpower. It’s either going to be China, Germany, or us. I want it to be us. And I’m going to do everything I can to make that come true. We can create millions of new good jobs and protect our planet.
And here in Florida, you are already seeing the results of climate change. Down in Miami, even on sunny days, without a drop of rain, the streets are flooding because the ocean is rising. Most of the scientists said that we’re going to have more tropical storms and hurricanes and they’re going to be more intense because the oceans are warming. People call 311 because they assume a water main has broken when it’s actually the sea rising around them.
This is a big deal for Florida. And I regret to tell you that Florida is behind in dealing with this challenge. Unfortunately, you’ve got a governor who has directed his state government never to say the words or write the words ‘climate change.’ And the big insurance companies are looking at this and they’re saying, ‘Hey, we’re really going to have to raise rates in Florida. Because the weather predictions – climate change reality is happening.’ And you are the Sunshine State. And what really makes me sad is that you have less solar power in Florida than New Jersey or Massachusetts. Right? They’re not exactly known as the sunshine states. There’s a lot of great things about those states, but think about the jobs that can be created, as well as contributing to what we need to do together to save our country and the world.
Now, I also believe strongly that we ought to – we’ve got to make it possible for everybody to get an education that’s going to give them the skills to be competitive in the new economy. I believe all our kids deserve universal prekindergarten so they can be ready to go to school. They deserve good schools with good teachers, regardless of where they live. And you especially deserve to have college affordable enough that you can go and graduate. I worked after our primary – and I was very proud of the primary that Senator Sanders and I ran, because it was about ideas, not insults. And we had disagreements, but they were disagreements about what’s the best way to achieve a goal, and we agreed, after it was over, on a plan to make public colleges and universities like Palm Beach State College tuition free – for any families making less than $125,000 a year, which is the vast majority of American families, and if you’re over that, it will be debt-free. So you pay what you can afford but not go into debt, because we should be making investments in your education.
And no matter where you go to college, or where you went, we’re going to make it easier for you to refinance and pay back your student debt. And then there’s something else I want to add, because I don’t think we talk enough about this. A four year degree should not be the only path to a good job and a middle-class life, right? Let’s bring back technical education in high schools, so that more young people get the skills that will make them employable. Let’s invest in more high-quality apprenticeships and training programs, so when you go to the polls, support not just teachers and educators, support yourselves and your families for the kind of future you deserve to have. And I also think the economy has to be fairer. What does that mean? Well, we’ve got to raise the national minimum wage, because no one who works full-time should still be in poverty. I was raised to believe in hard work, and I believe in it. And I don’t think there are any shortcuts. People need to work. But when you work full time, you shouldn’t still be in poverty, worried about whether you can put food on the table for yourself and your kids. And don’t you think it’s finally time for businesses that make profits to do more to share those profits with the employees who helped to make the profits in the first place?
You know, I love having the support of real billionaires. And they’ve been speaking out, because Donald gives a bad name to billionaires. Warren Buffett says, ‘Raise my taxes. It’s wrong I’m paying a lower tax rate that my secretary pays.’ That is wrong. He knows it. Mark Cuban says every time he’s sold a company, he has shared the profits with his employees, making 300 millionaires, from security guards all the way up to executives. Mike Bloomberg says he knows a con artist when he sees one. So we can do better. We’re going to raise taxes on the wealthy, because they’ve gotten most of the gains from the economy.
And I don’t think it’s right that Donald Trump, a guy who claims he’s worth $10 billion, should have paid zero in federal incomes taxes for 20 years. He paid less taxes than probably everybody else here. Everyone here. Right? And at some point you’ve got to ask yourself, ‘What is so smart, as he claimed to be, about losing a billion dollars in a year?’ I don’t think that’s very smart. And what really is kind of weird about it is, he lost a billion dollars running casinos. Who loses any money running casinos, has been the question I have. So we’re going to get the tax system working or everybody. And don’t you think it is finally time to say, absolutely no tax increases on the middle class, because you haven’t had the benefits that you should have had, with rising wages? And so I’m adopting the same policy that President Obama had, really the policy my husband started with. No one who makes $250,000 or less, you will not see your federal taxes raised, period.
I get always a little amused when I hear people talking the way that Donald talks, about slashing taxes, trillions of dollars of taxes for the wealthy. That’s the same old trickle-down economics, only he of course wants it to be huger than anybody else’s trickle-down economics. Huge. Well, the fact is, it hasn’t worked. It hasn’t worked. We created more jobs when my husband was President, 23 million new jobs. And we’ve now created 15 million new jobs under Barack Obama. That is more than was created under trickle-down economics. So I feel strongly that we can’t go backward, because we need to build the economy from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down.
Now, don’t you also think it’s also time for women to get equal pay for the work we do? And, this is not a women’s issue alone. If you’ve got a mother, or a wife, or a daughter, or a sister, you want her to have equal pay, don’t you? I mean, otherwise your family is being cheated. And you know where else it hurts? If women are not paid equally. And we’ve got some great examples of that around the country. It hurts them when they go on Social Security.
Lilly Ledbetter, the woman you may have heard of, worked in a factory in Alabama. And she worked her way up until she was one of the managers on the floor. She was the only woman. She worked really hard. And then it was years later she was like in a break room or somewhere and she overheard a conversation about what some of her co-managers were going to be spending money on. And she was thinking, now, how can they afford that? And so she went and talked to them, and they told her how much money they made. And she was paid 40 percent less. So what did that mean to her? Well, her husband, who also worked really hard, it meant that they were kind of cheated. And then her husband died. She’s a widow. And how her Social Security is 40 percent less because she didn’t put in enough to get the higher payments.
So don’t let anybody tell you this is a woman’s issue. And when Donald Trump attacks me, says I’m playing the woman’s card, you know what? If standing up for equal pay is playing the woman’s card, then deal me in!
So, my friends, we have a lot to do, and it’s going to be exciting. I’m very optimistic about what we’re going to do together. And I look at this election, and I really do see two very different visions about our country. And I want us to choose a path that is confident and optimistic because I really believe America’s best days are still ahead of us. And I think part of what we have to do is us be clear about the stark difference between our campaign and my opponent’s campaign.
Today he’s in Washington, D.C. to open a new luxury hotel. And really, while the hotel may be new, it’s the same old story because once again – and I want you to hear this because this is really important – if you have friends who are thinking of voting for Trump, I want you to tell them that he relied on undocumented workers to make his project cheaper. And most of the products in the rooms were made overseas. And he even sued to get his taxes lowered.
But we know he’s used undocumented workers, and that’s one of the things that he has run his campaign on, about deporting undocumented workers. Well, he’s used undocumented workers. He’s made his products in foreign countries. He’s used Chinese steel instead of American steel. So you can talk a good game, but let’s look at the facts. And the facts show he has stiffed American workers. He has stiffed American businesses. And later today, I’m going to be with celebrity chef José Andrés, who had the courage to stand up to Trump about his divisive anti-immigrant views by refusing to put his restaurant in Trump’s hotel.
And I also – two more things. I couldn’t believe that Trump started tweeting about how the battle for Mosul was already ‘a total disaster,’ and that our country was ‘looking so dumb,’ basically declaring defeat before the battle had even started. Honestly, this is someone who says he knows more about ISIS than our generals. He is not just wrong, he’s dangerously wrong. And the message that is being sent to our American soldiers who are over there advising and helping this action to drive the terrorists out – imagine what they are hearing from someone who claims he wants to be the next commander-in-chief?
Well, my friends, I have a different view, and I want your help. Our bottom line is we need to work for the next 13 days. And here in Florida, voting could not be easier. Please, you can go early vote through Sunday, November 6. Go to any early voting site in your county. You can go between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. to cast your ballot. In fact, you can go right after this rally to the Lantana Road Branch Library just three miles away. And you can go to iwillvote.com to confirm your polling place. Make sure you have a plan to vote. Make sure you bring everybody to vote. Volunteer these last two weeks. Help us make calls and knock on doors. Go to hillaryclinton.com to sign up, or take out your phones and text ‘j-o-i-n’; to 47246.
So on January 20th, we’re going to have a new president. Right? So things are going to change no matter what. The real question is, what kind of change are we going to have? And I don’t think most Americans want the dark and divisive change that Donald is offering – mass deportations to rip apart families. A repeal of gun-free school zones on day one. Going back to the days when insurance companies could discriminate against everybody, not just people on the Affordable Care Act exchanges but every one of us, 170 million of us, who get insurance from our employers. Going back to letting Wall Street write its own rules. Denying the science of climate change. Rolling back marriage equality. Reversing a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions. The biggest tax breaks ever for those at the top. And then a broad ripping up our alliances and allowing more countries to get nuclear weapons.
Well, that’s change, all right. But that is not the change we need. We need a country where every student can afford to go to college, where millions of people are working in good, high-paying jobs, where immigrants come out of the shadows and pay taxes and – listen to this – a half of all undocumented immigrants pay federal income taxes, which means they pay more federal income taxes than Donald Trump has paid for 20 years! And we need a country respected in the world, working with our allies to defeat terrorism and to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.
Well, my friends, change is coming. But the choice is yours as to what kind of country we want to be. We need a fairer, stronger America. If you will work with me, if you will vote between now and the time the polls close on November 8, we will make the kind of future that we need for ourselves, our kids, and our grandkids. And we will prove once and for all that love trumps hate! Thank you!”
The best birthday present you can give Hillary today is a donation. She is working hard to tip the scales in Florida and other battleground states, not just for her White House bid, but for House and Senate seats and local tickets.
